Community Health Worker Training Program

The Community Health Worker Training Program (CHWTP) is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and awarded to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in partnership with the Minnesota Community Health Worker Alliance (MNCHWA), the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry and accredited institutions who offer the Community Health Worker (CHW) Certificate. The aim of the CHWTP is to strengthen and diversify the CHW workforce. 

The CHWTP is doing the following toward this aim:  

Scholarship Program

Provides financial support for students pursuing a CHW certificate at an accredited institution starting in the Fall of 2023. 

Apprenticeship Program

Registered with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, which will continue past the grant period. 

Online Training

Strengthening the public health workforce by developing new or improving existing online training to increase the skills and competencies of CHWs. This will include online training free and accessible to CHWs. Please visit the MDH Learning Center to register and see current CHW Training Modules

MNCHWA has staff members available to support and guide CHWs through each stage of the CHWTP processes, training eligibility, application, enrollment, and student training. 

Questions?

Meet the Staff

Angela Fields, Associate Executive Director (AED) and Student Services Coordinator

Angela R. Fields is a dedicated, passionate, and experienced service provider, entrepreneur, mother, and grandmother. Ms. Fields has over thirty years of experience working alongside communities and families to find solutions to address health and social inequities.  

Angela is accustomed to working with multidisciplinary care teams across health and social systems providing customized education, information, and applicable resources in a person-lead approach for the betterment of those suffering from chronic health issues including mental health diagnosis, substance use disorders and those experiencing economic disparities. 

Angela has supported the efforts of numerous community-based and health care organizations providing expertise in areas of community health, adolescent health, maternal and child health, women’s health, end-of-life care, through the integration of evidence-based models to include the Community Health Worker (CHW) models in clinical and community settings. Angela is an author of the revised Minnesota Standardized Community Health Worker Certificate Mental Health Curriculum. 

Ms. Fields is the newly appointed Associate’s Executive Director( AED), at the Minnesota CHW Alliance. Angela brings her strategic thinking, good judgement, vision, and leadership skills to her role as Associate Executive Director.  She understands the importance of CHW leadership, workforce development, job readiness and job sustainability for those in her profession. Angela facilitates the monthly CHW Learning Circle, a learning platform for CHWs to connect, learn and network. 

Ms. Fields is transitioning into the role as the CHW Training Program Student Services Coordinator to support students enrolled in the Minnesota Community Health Worker Certificate Program through the HRSA CHW Training Program in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Community Health Worker Alliance.  

On a lighter note, in her free time Angela enjoys the simple things in life such as gardening, cooking and enjoying time with her family.  

Email: angela.fields@mnchwalliance.org

Rachel Stoll, Community Health Worker Training Program Manager

Rachel Stoll is a CHW certificate holder who is continuing her role as Winona Community HUB Manager in Winona Minnesota as she steps into her new role as CHW Training Program Manager at the Alliance.  

Rachel has experience in working in the field as a CHW at the Winona Community HUB prior to her current administrative roles. As a CHW, Rachel worked directly with participants of the HUB program to address social drivers of health, improve health literacy and health outcomes. Through this work Rachel learned that the health of the most vulnerable members of our community impact the health and wellbeing of our entire community.   

 Before becoming a CHW, Rachel spent about ten years living and working in collectively run emergency shelters in Milwaukee, Tucson, and Winona. It was her experience in Tucson which drove her toward health equity work. In Arizona, Rachel worked with two organizations No More Deaths and Casa Mariposa to provide direct humanitarian aid for people affected by the border crisis. During this experience, Rachel learned the vital importance of going ‘upstream’ when providing medical help to individuals, the importance of early intervention and the ways that systems and structural barriers can impact health.  

Rachel’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Anthropology and Gender Studies from Marquette University and a Community Health Worker Certificate from Minnesota West Community and Technical College.  Rachel’s history with MNCHWA includes participating in the CHW Leadership Program in 2020 and leading the CHW Supervisor Roundtable in 2022 and 2023.   

Rachel brings a passion for equal access and equitable distribution of resources to her new role and will work to ensure that the CHW Training Program will benefit communities in every corner of the state. Rachel is excited to work collaboratively with such an amazing team and to be able to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders in this work. 

Email: rachel@mnchwalliance.org

Vonyee Howard, HRSA Field Experience/ Apprenticeship Coordinator

Vonyee Howard has been a CHW Certificate Holder since 2008. She entered the profession with a rich background in healthcare. Within the CHW profession, Vonyee is known for her work with older adults as well as working with adults with mental health and chronic health diagnoses. During her CHW tenure, Vonyee has developed programs, implemented and modeled the standards for the CHW role, trained CHWs and organizations where CHWs are employed, and more. Vonyee was a part of the 2nd cohort of the MNCHWA CHW Leadership Development Institute and has contributed her CHW expertise to several MNCHWA led projects, including the Mississippi State Department of Health training. Vonyee authored the Healthy Lifestyles modules in the revised MN CHW Certificate Curriculum, and she is also a Doula. 

Email: vonyee@mnchwalliance.org